Riot cops use tear gas on RNC protesters

A protest march at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on Tuesday began with arrests and ended with police ordering a few dozen lingering marchers to disperse and firing tear gas and flash grenades.

For the most part, however, the march by the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign was peaceful, with about a thousand protesters under heavy police scrutiny chanting, "Our human rights are under attack. What do we do? Stand up, fight back!"

Police from Ramsey County, in which the city of St. Paul is located, had previously arrested 284 people on Monday, claiming that 200 of them were "anarchists" bent on causing "damage." The Ramsey County sheriff's office alleges, on the basis of reports from police infiltrators, that an anarchist group is plotting to disrupt the convention by blockading bridges, kidnapping Republican delegates, and spraying urine on police.

However, those arrested on Monday also included journalists, such as Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, and others who merely happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ACLU has condemned the mass arrests and is calling for an investigation.

This video is from ABCNews.com, broadcast September 2, 2008.

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